Saturday, July 07, 2007

Scooting Around Justice

Former White House aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in the CIA leak scandal that revealed the identity of an undercover agent named Valerie Plame. He was convicted of lying and obstructing justice. Tonight he is not behind bars, and will not be serving any time for his crime.

On July 2nd, President Bush commuted the 30 month prison get away from Libby's sentence. He is required to serve 2 years probation and pay a $250,000 fine. This isn't quite a full pardon. A full pardon would have completely eliminated Libby's criminal record.

Bush said in a statement " I respect the jury's verdict, but I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

His decision has outraged Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war. Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi asserted that the president "condones criminal actions."

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald says the president was wrong to commute Libby's sentence; claiming that Libby was sentenced under the same laws other citizens are subject to.

It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals," Fitzgerald said.

My Opinion: Can George W. Bush be any bolder? He is blatantly smacking the judicial system in the face. He just doesn't care! It disgusts me that he would let Libby walk away from jail time. If this were the common man, he'd be sitting in a federal penitentiary. But, he's the Vice President's former Chief of Staff, so he gets special treatment from the executive branch. While he was subject to the same laws as you or me, he has his buddies at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to back him up and get him out of any jam he may get into.

The president should've let Libby serve out his sentence in its entirety. Instead he decided to interfere and further tarnish his reputation. Hell, when you're already at 28% approval, why not shoot for 0%? Moron.

About

About Me

My name is James O'Leary and I'm originally from the village of Assonet, Massachusetts. I currently reside in Boston where I attended and recently graduated from Emerson College with a BS in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in political science. For the past few years I've worked as a reporter and producer for WEBN-TV, EIV News, and PoliticalPulse.net.